A few weeks ago I was standing at the back of a pre-shift meeting at a property I was visiting before dinner service. A chef was walking the team through the evening’s menu and reviewing several dishes. At some point he got to the Hamachi and began describing the use of Buddha’s hand as a tableside garnish and flavor component. He spoke about it with the confidence and fluency you’d expect from someone who has spent their career in professional kitchens. He went on for a few minutes, the team listened and nodded in agreement. It would seem all was well, until a young server assistant named Sally raised her hand.
“I’m sorry — what is a Buddha’s hand?”
There was a brief pause. The chef smiled, pivoted, and asked the room if anyone else wasn’t familiar with it. Several heads started nodding, slowly at first, then more confidently as people realized they weren’t alone. What followed was a short, genuinely useful explanation of what Buddha’s hand is, what it tastes like, and why it was on the plate. The whole room walked away better prepared to serve that dish and answer a guest’s question about it, all because Sally asked.
Sally had been with the team for just over a year. She was not the most senior person in the room, nor the most experienced, but she was the only one brave enough to admit she didn’t know something. In doing so, she gave everyone else permission to admit the same.
Some may think this question to be unremarkable and simply a byproduct of a traditional preshift. I would disagree. In order for Sally to raise her hand, she had to get past the fear of looking uninformed, the worry that everyone else already knew and the discomfort of being the one to slow things down. These are real feelings, and they keep people quiet in meetings, pre-shifts, training sessions and boardrooms every single day. Sally may not have cared about those feelings, but I can say with confidence that others do.
The people who stay quiet aren’t less intelligent, they are just more afraid. As leaders we must create a culture where questions are encouraged and rewarded. We’ve all heard the phrase “there are no stupid questions” but I have witnessed leaders respond as if there are.
A practical technique to confirm your team knows information is to ask the question rather than share the answer — something like “Who can tell me what Buddha’s hand is?” Hopefully you get the right answer, and if you don’t, well now you know a lesson is needed. When someone does ask a question, be sure to thank them for it. When the answer helps out the whole room, point that out and recognize their bravery.
Sally didn’t just help herself that evening. She helped every person in that room serve their guests better.
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